Murder by Clown | Full Episode

[Music] the evil clowns you've seen in the movies well it came to life in this case when your mom was growing up was she fascinated with clowns she was she even painted pictures of them my mother Marley Warren was a beautiful person she was loving caring [Music] kind on May 26th 1990 a woman answered her door in front of her 21-year-old son and saw a clown at the door handing her balloons and flowers that was the worst day of my life we were eating breakfast we saw the colors of the reflections through the glass and looked like a clown costume my mother opened the door and I heard how pretty and I heard bang I saw her fall and I ran toward her as the clown was walking away and I saw that she'd been shot in the face at that moment I felt my heart my soul just rip out of my body what did you see on the Clown's face well it was a white face nose orangish red hair and it was just a clown suit what does the clown do calmly walks right back to the car like nothing happened a person disguised as a clown walked up to marleene Warren's AOC Club home in Wellington and shot her in the mouth I was working as a prosecutor here in this office when it happened and it was big news meanwhile at our home investigators gather evidence searching for Clues killing with a great costume to conceal one's identity and anybody passing by would probably say oh isn't that nice somebody's getting flowers it wouldn't be suspicious and it would certainly make for the Perfect Crime marene Warren was someone without any known enemies someone who cared deeply about her family and they lived in a home in a pretty secluded part of Palm Beach County Michael Warren was married to marleene Warren Michael was a local businessman in the car business the Warren's marriage seemed to be an ideal marriage but for the people on the inside that knew better Marlene was expressing issues with Michael Warren the people closest to Michael Warren that worked with him knew there was something wrong because they were observing Michael Warren's interactions with a woman by the name of Sheila ke and the rumors was what about Sheila and Mike well it was more than a rumor that Sheila Kean and Michael Warren were having an affair it was not hidden from any of the employees in the hours after the murder of Marlene Warren the suspects became clear it was Sheila Kean and was Michael Warren but Michael Warren had an alibi Michael and Sheila thought that they could get away with anything it took over 30 years to make sense of it [Music] all [Music] [Music] this house was the scene of a bizarre murder that shooter a clown carrying flowers and balloons it's easy to see why this case has so much interest who isn't afraid of a killer clown the 1990 murder of marleene Warren shot by someone dressed as a clown haunted not just the public but the Palm Beach County state attorney's office despite identifying two suspects the case for decades went unsolved Dave aronberg is the current state attorney this was an assassin ation this was not a random act of violence this was not a robbery the unknowingness of this heinous crime the fear it was hell Joe arens was 21 living at home with his stepfather Mike and his mother marleene when she was murdered she was a good mother everything she did she took pride in the morning of May 26th 1990 had started as a cheerful one Joe recuperating from a broken leg was having breakfast at home with his mom and three friends when they saw a clown approaching carrying balloons and flowers and we kind of figured I had cast on somebody was sending to heal and for gesture this is like oh what a delightful gifts to cheer you up with your broken leg right my mother opened the door and then we heard bang and she fell at that point we knew something was wrong my mother was struggling to breathe and then I jumped to the phone you know called di11 right away as the clown slowly and silently walked to a car Joe and some of his friends tried to get a closer look at anything that might help describe the disguised attacker the only thing that didn't have any color on it was the shoes that were solid black and the white Glo and did you notice anything about the Clown's eyes I did that that's the most thing I I saw was the big brown eyes and the clown gets in the car what kind of car was it it was a white learon and does the car peel off no just goes into gear and drives off like nothing happened while some of Joe's friends remained at his house waiting for EMS Joe got into Marlene's car and tried to chase down down the clown but he couldn't catch up he is seen here back home afterwards where TV news crews were on the scene meanwhile with the clowns balloons and flowers Left Behind marleene was rushed to the hospital barely alive where she was put on life support I kept telling her I love her and I don't want her to go and Please Don't Leave Me 2 days later with no hope of a recovery life support was removed and marene died I knew my life was going to change and I knew it was going to become hell cuz she wasn't here to help me a top clue the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office had was Joe's description of the clown about 61 tall skinny with orange hair a red nose and a big orange smile and male and those balloons Left Behind they now seemed cruy mocking you're the greatest once said the the other had a picture of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs authorities had also spoken with Joe's stepfather Mike Warren who they learned had an alibi he was in a car with friends heading to a racetrack when the shooting took place growing up with Mike Warren what was that like was he a good dad I thought so that's the only father I knew I mean I was really young when my real father and mother separated marleene and Mike were married when joob was just three they had built a comfortable life in Wellington Florida an affluence suburb marleene owned several businesses including apartment complexes and the couple ran bargain Motors specializing in used cars and rentals while business was good the marriage says Joe was troubled he says his mother became convinced Mike was having an affair making her fearful she said if anything does happen to me your father did it she said that to you I told her no way he would never do anything like that she said don't put it past him marleene shared that same fear with her mother Shirley twing she says if anything happens to me Mike did it we interviewed Shirley in 2017 when 48 Hours started investigating Marlene's murder that's an ominous thing to say did you sense fear in her voice sure yes I did so when Shirley learned her daughter had been murdered her mind went to Mike right away I figured that Mike had something to do with it that's for damn sure but Mike had that alibi so authorities were looking for someone else and when they visited bargain Motors Mike's place of business one name kept popping up that woman with whom Mike was supposedly having an affair everybody at the bargain Motors were reporting that you should look first at Sheila Kean Altha McRoberts an assistant State Attorney in Palm Beach county has worked on the case from the beginning and within the next day or so tips were being called in that you really should investigate Sheila Kean and Michael Warren they were definitely seeing one another Dela Ward work did bargain motors with Mike Warren he had a lot of compassion a lot of empathy and people just were drawn to him especially women one of those women Dela believed was Sheila Kean I found her very nice very bubbly you knew the way she looked at Michael you just you loved them you could see it Sheila who also had a reputation for toughness was a repo woman repossessing cars at bar Motors to do repos you have to you have to have some kind of guns she told me I keep a gun for my protection cuz people are crazy what they do Sheila told investigators she was out working at the time of Marlene's murder she claimed that she was looking for repossession vehicles but she was unable to provide any address that she went to so that they could follow up and confirm it as for the affair both Sheila and Mike told investigators they were just friends but that's not what authorities learned when they talked to Sheila's Neighbors The Neighbors at that apartment complex believed that Michael Warren and Sheila Kean were husband and wife is there any doubt in your mind that there was a romantic relationship there's no doubt and they didn't hide it an affair though isn't necessarily a motive for murder did anyone profit financially from Marlene's death yes so Michael Warren profited largely the properties and assets that they own together were in her name so by her predeceasing him he was able to obtain 100% of the assets investigators were also trying to locate local stores that had recently sold clown outfits Deborah offord had been working at a costume shop when two nights before Marlene's murder a customer knocked at the door at closing time she wanted to see the clown costumes I said can you come back tomorrow and she said no I need something right now Deborah told investigators the customer paid cash buying a clown suit an orange wig makeup and a red clown nose she was I would say about 510 um long thick straight like chocolate color hair big brown eyes detectives later presented Deborah with a photo lineup that included a picture of Sheila Kean Deborah identified Kean and one other woman as possibly being the person who bought the clown costume the Sheriff's Office also believed they located where the shooter bought those flowers and balloons this Supermarket the buyer described as a white female with dark brown hair the description of the customer given by the worker at the suit Supermarket brown hair and at the costume store brown hair brown eyes was consistent with Sheila Keane and there was Sheila's reported affair with Mike Warren it was intriguing circumstantial evidence but would it be enough to make an [Music] arrest [Music] before they turn the machine off on my [Music] mother God I wish you could be here with me I told her that I loved her very much and that we were going to get Justice [Music] as Joe arens mourned the loss of his mother marleene investigators continued looking for additional evidence tying Sheila Keen to Marlene Warren's murder you talk about this case to anyone and the first place people go is yeah it's the mistress so investigators focused on Sheila keen and soon a big break when detectives located ated this abandoned white Chrysler learon matching the description Witnesses gave of the getaway car what was found inside that Chrysler learon there was synthetic fibers similar type fibers to a clown wig they were orange the same color as the wig Joe Aaron says the as salent was wearing also inside the car they found a human hair it was brown like Sheila ke's Sheriff's detectives executed a search warrant at the home of Sheila Keen inside Sheila keen's closet detectives say they recovered orange fibers that a forensic examination later concluded were similar to the ones found in the Chrysler learon and another breakthrough was made when Sheila's hair from her apartment was compared to the one recovered from the getaway car that was scientifically microscopically examined and found to be consistent consistent with Sheila's hair but DNA technology was still in its infancy in 1990 and scientists were unable to make a definitive connection there were other challenges for investigators the gun used to kill Marlene and the actual costume the Killer Clown wore were never found and remember Joe thought the attacker was a 6 tall man Sheila didn't fit either of those two descriptions we're talking about an event that took seconds glances of this clown was a second or two also mcrobert says any eyewitness would have a hard time describing someone in a baggy clown costume makeup and a wig it's basically a clown is a clown and there was Sheila's alleged affair with Mike Warren those fiber and hair results and those sales clerks at the costume and grocery stores whose description of the customer purchasing the clown outfit balloons and flowers was consistent with Sheila this sounds like the evidence is really building up like you've got enough there to make an arrest what happens well there was certainly argument about that and opinions that differed at the time and then there's a an indecision about do I do it now or should we keep trying and get a little bit more as investigators looked for more evidence they discovered that Mike Warren's business bargain Motors was connected to the suspected getaway car they learned an employee stole the car from a competitor several weeks before the murder and that's how they got the chrysal the bearon sheriff's detectives spent about 5 hours Thursday night searching the offices of bargain Motors at and as they investigated Mike Warren's business they discovered widespread fraud charging him with racketeering insurance fraud and odometer tampering he ultimately was convicted on 43 counts of Fraud and sent to prison it was for fraud and so you know you just can't extrapolate one to the next I mean there's no evidence that he's a murderer we do have our suspicions though he was not charged with any crime in connection with Marlene's murder and Warren felt he was a victim in this case sentiments he shared in a radio interview before he went to prison they wanted to put me out of business Warren speculated that Marlene might actually have been the victim of an angry tenant or car buyer I really can't think of a reason why uh other than the fact of the type of businesses that we're in as far as them landlords and crossing a few people by repossessing their car but law enforcement did not think Marlin Warren's murder was the work of a disgruntled tenant or customer and as the years passed the case grew cold and as for Sheila Kean she seemed to disappear nobody ever brought her name up again you know for many years I was suffering in in in despair after Mike Warren went to prison Joe says he and his stepfather became a strange and as he continued to grieve the loss of his mother he was consumed by her case going unsolved and give me a sense of what problems you fell into after your mother's murder ah wow where do we start alcoholism drugs I mean you name it it was especially painful says Joe on each passing anniversary of the shooting I would blow up that day and go get drunk you know and just go to her grave site it was sad would you go out to her grave to talk to her I did a lot I try to find answers you know but I was so confused I was getting nothing I was just lost I miss you I wish you could help me through these Hard Times Joe eventually emerged from the fog of drugs and despair with that behind him he became increasingly certain of who murdered his mother I concluded that Sheila was the one that did it she probably never thought in a million years she'd be held accountable for her crimes she thought she got away with it what do you make of the evidence against Sheila Kean chat now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook and X these are paintings that Marlin had painted when she was about 14 years old I kind of grin cuz I can almost see her doing this Shirley twing and her daughter Marlene shared a fascination with clowns and over here in Shirley's home she even kept a room full of clown art and figurines this one says to me things will get better the sad sometimes unsettling images brought Comfort to Shirley despite the fact that a clown had so brutally ended her daughter's life I don't hate clowns I just hate one although the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office hadn't given up on solving Marlene's murder 27 long years had passed without an arrest then by 2017 a Cold Case unit made a breakthrough State Attorney Dave aronberg finally had new important evidence the hairs that were found in the learon were able to be Trace to Sheila through DNA technology with that new DNA match detectives believed they could now definitively connect Sheila to the alleged getaway car and to marleene Warren's murder and when Sheriff's found suspect Sheila ke they were blown away to learn whom she had married after Michael Warren got out of prison he reconnected with Sheila Keen here's someone whose wife had been murdered and he just married the chief suspect what did that tell you when you combine the fact that the two of them were in aair at the time of the murder and then later they got married it did seem like mission accomplished that marriage was in 2002 the Warren now middle-aged settled into a new life in Tennessee running this burger joint called Purple Cow she took Mike's last name but in an interesting twist assistant State Attorney Altha mcrobert says she changed her first name Sheila Keen Warren introduced herself to their friends in that life that her name was Debbie she had dyed her hair blonde changed her name and was living a full life we would have dinners they were wonderful Cooks the Warren befriended Brook Bev this is Mike Warren's house a neighbor at a weekend property the couple purchased in the Virginia mountains when we spoke to Brooke in 2018 she said she knew Mike's wife as Debbie and was told it was a childhood nickname her dad nicknamed her that when she was small I never called her Sheila I always called her Debbie former Purple Cow employees Ashley Sexton and Cynthia Swafford say they knew Debbie as a tough boss I mean she was awful aggressive mean and even heard an alarming rumor about her past the rumor around Purple Cow when we worked there was Debbie killed Mike's exwife I thought they was blown off steam I was like okay whatever but the rumors said it mourn once even to where we knew she dressed up like a clown according to an employee Sheila had appeared in clown makeup at the restaurant one year during Halloween by the fall of 2017 the warrant had sold the business and retired fulltime to the house in Virginia meanwhile State Attorney aronburg felt the case against Sheila had only gotten stronger when you combine the fact that they got married and seemingly lived happily ever after with the new DNA breakthrough we're able to get enough evidence to make an arrest on September 26th 2017 27 years after Marlene's murder authorities arrested Sheila kein Warren driving on a Road near their home she was charged with first-degree murder Sheila did not murder Marlene Warren Greg Rosenfeld Sheila keing Warren's defense attorney says Sheila was not the shooter everything was so methodical this person walking up to the house committing the shooting and then slowly walking away we're dealing with someone who had experience and committing a hit or a murder that's not Sheila that is not Sheila shortly after Sheila's arrest Dave aronberg addressed reporters today we filed notice in t to seek the death penalty in this case can you say whether Michael Warren is a suspect I can't say that Altha McRoberts says there was something Sheila asked as she was being taken into custody that caught prosecutors attention one of the first things she said is well are you going to arrest him too pointing to her husband which suggests what to you that she knew exactly what she was being arrested for and they had done it together Joe had come to the same conclusion that his stepfather and Sheila were both involved in his mother's murder would you like to see Mike Warren charged in the murder of your mother yes I would with Sheila in custody we wanted to speak with Mike Warren we're going to go to his front door give it a knock see if he'll answer a couple of questions [Music] after the arrest of Sheila Warren in 2017 48 Hours wanted to talk to Mike Warren about what he knew about his wife's murder here he comes hey Mike I'm Peter vanent with CBS News he wouldn't open the door but we spoke through it for several minutes competing with a barking dog did you have anything to do with planning the murder of your wife marleene you did not he was adamant that neither he nor Sheila Keen Warren had anything to do with Marlene's murder did you suggest to Sheila that she dress in a clown out saying don't thought something do you believe based on the evidence over the years that Mike Warren knew what was going to happen that day I don't believe there's any direct evidence of that there just wasn't enough evidence to prosecute Michael Warren but if evidence emerges we'll pursue it as they prepared for trial despite never recovering the clown disguise or the gun prosecutors were confident they could prove that Sheila Keen Warren committed the murder so that she could marry Mike Warren Sheila Keen Warren had the means the motive and the opportunity to do this we will never know who killed Marlene Warren because the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and the state attorney's office did such a poor job investigating this case I can tell you without question that it was not Sheila Keen Sheila Keen Warren's defense attorney Greg Rosenfeld says she's innocent a victim of the state attorney's Reckless desire to close a notorious Cold Case and they said you know what this is our suspect we're going to stick with it even though the pieces of the puzzle didn't fit the puzzle Rosenfeld says that were other potential suspects authorities ignored including an inmate who supposedly bragged in prison about murdering marleene but prosecutors say he was investigated and cleared it's not surprising that they would try to point the finger at law enforcement for not looking at every potential suspect but if you look at the evidence it pointed to one person all along Sheila Keen Warren the state was confident Sheila Keen Warren was responsible for Marlene's murder but Rosenfeld plans to poke holes in its case at trial how do you overcome DNA evidence the state attorney's office should be embarrassed about the DNA evidence in this case Rosenfeld agrees the hair prosecutors say was found in the learon getaway car could be from Sheila Keen Warren but he says it could also be from about 4% of the US Caucasian population they couldn't exclude marleene Warren from that hair sample so that was their groundbreaking DNA evidence and if you conc that the hair is from Sheila Keen Warren says Rosenfeld there's an innocent explanation as to how it got there the labarin was on the lot at bargain Motors where she worked Sheila may have been in the car used in this murder that's it the defense attorney says well of course her hair might be in in there it doesn't suggest that she was driving at the time of the murder what do you say to that it's just one more link once you put that one thing with the totality of all the circumstances then it starts to become overwhelming Rosenfeld says the orange fibers found in the car which prosecutors say could be from the clown costume should also be excluded so the fibers found in the car were synthetic fibers that same type of fiber can be used in thousands of different products so the state likes to present it as clown wig fibers but that's factually incorrect even more troubling than the evidence gathered says Rosenfeld is how it was handled over the decades what are we looking at here these are evidence bags at the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office evidence unit torn open just gaping holes in these evidence bags if there's gaping holes what can that do to the evidence inside that's precisely how how you have cross contamination now look at if I can zoom in here this bag contains a clown wig investigators purchased similar to the one they believed was worn by the as salant they used it to compare to the fibers found in the learon and in Sheila's home this is an open evidence bag with the wig sticking out this is horrifying and so your bottom line is is that this evidence is unreliable now with without question can it not be argued that some of the evidence in this case was indeed bungled you know it's you're asking a lot of law enforcement to be perfect from 199 to today some of the evidence was kept in an Evidence storage area that wasn't ideal any mistake any small opening will be exploited by defense lawyers prosecutors were still certain they had the right person for Marlene's murder but in February 2020 after a re-evaluation of Sheila Keen Warren's case they announced they would no longer seek the death penalty were you told by the prosecutor's office that there was always a chance in a jury trial that she might even be acquitted yes see more evidence from the case at 48 [Music] hours.com when you think of your mom today what do you think about what images come to your mind well she was robbed and so was I it is said the wheels of Justice turned slowly and when it came to the murder of marleene Warren that grind often seemed to come to a halt after the 27-year wait for an arrest Sheila King Warren's trial kept getting delayed by 2022 she had spent 5 years in jail her trial postponed six times and then we had coid so it just was one thing after another Decades of accumulation of files and photographs and mountains of evidence and documents defense attorney Greg Rosenfeld was also trying to work his way through all that evidence and he says adding to the delays was a lack of cooperation from the state evidence kept I'd say disappearing Rosenfeld says one crucial piece of evidence for the defense that disappeared for years was what invest instigators called the clown sighting file these were all the tips about people who alleged to have seen clowns in the area that opens up for you new avenues as to possible suspects right absolutely absolutely I think the Sheriff's Office and the state attorney's office just decided they didn't want to look for this evidence but then suddenly in October of 2022 as another trial date neared the file was found it was located not with the Sheila Keen clown murder boxes it was actually a file out of place they find this clown setting file and there's 35 tips we begin to investigate them now we're 32 years after the murder you know we couldn't track down these Witnesses I've seen it and it's silly things clearly clown sightings that had nothing to do with marlein Warren and it wasn't being intentionally hidden from the defense absolutely not we were meticulous about making sure they had everything though as the trial neared the Decades of delays were causing problems for the prosecution as well every day that went by it was a tougher case Witnesses die memories fade evidence spoils one of our key Witnesses passed away he was the one who compiled the evidence and without him we lost a chain of custody for some crucial evidence relating to the fibers if I can zoom in here this is an open evidence bag evidence the defense already claimed had been poorly stored and mishandled contaminated inadmissible unreliable it just goes to show you how poor of an investigation that was done they were going to be able to argue that because of the opening of the bags that the evidence was spoiled and because of the break in the chain of custody because of the death of our Witnesses it shouldn't even be admitted so you had some real potential for reasonable doubt there was beyond Reasonable Doubt on April 25th 2023 2 weeks before Sheila Keen Warren's trial for the murder of Marlene Warren was to begin there was yet another surprise in a case that had been filled with the unexpected a plea deal was reached Miss Keen Warren the defendant here in will agree to withdraw her previously in her plea of not guilty and her plea of guilty Sheila Ken Warren whose case at one time included the death penalty then life in prison would now plead guilty to second degree murder and be sentenced to 12 years in prison under sentencing guidelines for time served she is expected to be released in 2025 perhaps sooner we had to make a judgment based on what we had because the fear is what if you take this to trial the worst thing that could happen would be that Sheila Keen Warren would be found not guilty not because she was innocent but because after 33 years we could not prove Beyond a reasonable doubt that she was the one who did it but Sheila Keen Warren did have to publicly pay a price for this plea deal admitting in open court that she in fact did murder marleene Warren if this case were to proceed to jury trial the state would present evidence that onon about May the 26 of 1990 the defendant was responsible for the death of Marlene Warren K Warren did you hear all that yes sir and do you agree with that fual basis yes despite admitting her crime Sheila Keen Warren through her attorney still maintains she is innocent Sheila did not commit this murder it was very difficult for her to admit to committing a crime that she did not commit but as a matter of law she has admitted to committing The Murder by saying yes correct for the purpose of so she is a convicted murderer and so far as the log goes sure but when you're told you could be home or you know you can play Russian Roulette and risk spending the rest of your life in prison it's kind of a no-brainer the defense cannot have it both ways so she will be a murderer for every day for the rest of her life even when she gets out of prison one day she'll still be a convicted murderer when she does get out of prison she will reunite with her husband Michael Warren Sheila is going home to Tennessee she's going back to her life Michael Warren in a statement provided to 48 Hours regarding the plea said my wife did not commit this crime it was difficult to see her plea to a crime she did not commit but it wasn't worth the gamble when she was offered a deal that'll have her home in 16 to 18 months with this deal there is a chance that Sheila might get out of prison within the next year or two are you all right with that well I'm not all right with it but I have to be still Joe arens approved the plea deal feeling it wasn't worth the gamble of going to trial that was very emotional because that was the end of something so huge That Grew for 33 years of my life finally it's over finally you know it was the demons that once occupied Joe's mind are gone replaced with loving memories of how his mother Marlene lived rather than how that life was so violently taken what would you say to your mother if you could speak to her today wow what can I say to my mother thank you for showing me how to love and be peaceful and thank you for being in my life [Music] hurts need more time with 48 Hours go deep behind every True Crime episode with firsthand accounts from 48 Hours investigations were you at all prepared for what happened in this case shock is the word that comes to mind get inside the twists and turns and get in on the case listen to postmortem from 48 hours now available wherever you get your podcasts

Channel: 48 Hours

Views: 706,448

Keywords: 48 hours, cbs news, marlene warren, mike warren, sheila keen-warren, wellington florida, murder, assassination, murder by clown, full episodes, true crime, killer clown, cold case

Id: rEpzQtnz9y0

Length: 41min 46sec (2506 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 03 2023